Jim Nill has put a date on the Stars' next attempt to sign Jason Robertson long term, and it is still about six weeks away.
The Dallas general manager said Saturday in Chicago, before the Stars' 4-0 win over the Blackhawks, that he intends to meet with Robertson's representatives at the start of December. "I'm going to wait until probably around the first of December," Nill told NHL.com. "I don't want any distraction.
Just get off to a good start and I'll sit down with his representatives around the first of December, see if we can get something done."
Robertson, 27, is not eligible to sign an extension until Jan. 1. His current deal, signed July 21 when he was a restricted free agent, pays $12 million for this season only and kept the sides out of the arbitration hearing he had requested on July 5.
How the summer unfolded
The one-year contract followed a stretch in which Robertson's future in Dallas looked uncertain. TSN reported that the Stars appeared ready to move him in June, but a trade with the Seattle Kraken collapsed when Robertson turned down an eight-year offer from Seattle worth about $15 million a year against the cap.
Once the one-year deal was signed, Nill said the two sides had considered both long and short terms before settling. "Would we like long term? Probably. Would he like term? Probably," he said in July. He also said Robertson's camp had made it "very clear" during negotiations "that he wanted to be a Dallas Star."
The production behind the price
Last season Robertson scored 45 goals, one fewer than his career best, and topped the Stars with 96 points while playing all 82 games. His high-water mark came in 2022-23, a 46-goal, 109-point season that earned him first-team All-Star honors.
He has been the Stars' top point producer in three of the last four seasons, and since 2020-21 no Star has more goals, assists, points or power-play goals, according to NHL.com. In last spring's six-game first-round loss to Minnesota, he had five goals and eight points.
